Thread regarding ADP layoffs

It's in the numbers. Look at the stock price today, up almost 300% in three or four years. No stock split is in sight. However anyone thinking of doing a takeover would need to look closely at their failed attempt on the next gen efforts. Specifically payroll application. Their legacy systems will be around for at least three to five years, with nobody able to support or make code changes.

ADP has long been a takeover target due to the strong cash position, low debt and recurring revenue model. This does feel like an attempt to maximize profits and market cap ahead of a potential sale. Who is on the list of buyers? Microsoft? IBM? Amazon? I like what that might do the the stock price in the short term. An acquisition like that would mean far more job losses than we are seeing today though.

Everyone knows that more folks took the ERP than what was expected. Is ADP, saying Jan is the scapegoat here? I don't think so, I think he's smart enough to realize that come March if not sooner, ADP, will be a prime takeover for another company.

The only thing that I could find out about the reason that Jan Simund leaving is that there is dissatisfaction that he is only focused on the short term rather than on the long term. That doesn't make sense to me in that the recent eliminations of so-called "highly paid" key personnel and replacing them with cheap, low-knowledge workers is a short term cost savings and a long-term disaster as the new personnel becomes increasingly unable to properly service clients, resulting in angry and enraged clients, in turn resulting in less client retention, resulting in reduced revenues.

So why would Siegmund be blamed for this short term act when the top management is pushing it? Or has top management realized its mistake and needs a scapegoat?

Does anyone know the real fact of why Jan Siegmund is leaving? I would post but I am sure the moderator of this forum would censor it as not being true or not liking the info to come out without validating the validity of it. Dig into the reason and you will see the relevance towards your job(s) or lack thereof.

ADP had to cut costs? And employee compensation is the biggest expense? But you don't do that by lowering wages so low that it is no longer in the new employee's interests to work hard, and even stay with ADP. Because of that, ADP cannot compete for the best workers who are savvy with the best work ethic any more. Heck, with these low wages, they cannot even compete for mediocre workers. Other companies, who know how to pay good wages for complex work will be attracting those types of workers. ADP will be getting workers who will be in a continual hire, leave/fire cycle. ADP cannot survive, let alone compete with their competitors, with these kind of workers. I doubt that the "big changes at the top" will yield anything significant. The knowledge base has been cut too deep to make any difference with who is at the top. The fatal mistakes have already been made and ADP won't be able to survive despite its "deep pockets".

Its all about greed at the top....and now the elite are stacking the Supreme Court with the same type of thugs.....pretty soon, it will be the very very wealthy and the everybody else, scrambling and fighting over the crumbs.....

Just do some simple math. 55k associates at an average of $75k all in (not including any OH associated with those associates like office space, computers, etc...) would be $4.125billion. What cost is higher than that, since labor is over half of all costs? It's not even possible for any other cost category to be higher since labor is over half of all costs.

Employee compensation is the biggest cost? That's a good one. That's exactly what the CEO who is making millions wants your to think, and it's a small minded approach.

I work in a building of 2400 people and our fixed cost(including wages) is under 10%. Wages are not the problem. Wages of the average worker are the narrative companies use to continue to give out 7 figure executive compensation packages.

ADP had to cut costs, and employee compensation is the biggest expense. There isn't a company out there that isn't always trying to find the most effective way to perform the necessary functions at the lowest possible cost. Part of that is replacing high cost workers with lower cost workers. The area ADP is gambling is that the only reason they need these high cost experienced workers is because of the complexity of their systems. They are old, outdated, non-competitive and cost way too much to support. They are in the position they are in now because of that lack of innovation that has put them miles behind the competition so they have to do two things. Reduce the cost base, and innovate and release better and simpler to support products. I fear they've jumped on the cost cutting bandwagon before they are ready to release and migrate clients to the simpler and easier to support products. If that's the case, they are in for a rough ride for a while. With the deep pockets they have though, they'll ride this out and emerge stronger at some point. They have also started with some big changes at the top. New CFO when Jan leaves, and new head of sales/marketing.